The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan

Literary Hub has a new podcast!

Hosted by LH podcasts editor Drew Broussard, this new weekly show goes behind the scenes at Lit Hub, diving deeper into everything interesting, dynamic, strange, and wonderful in literary culture. Featuring appearances by Lit Hub staff, recurring columnists like Kristen Arnett and Maris Kreizman, and special guests talking about the news of the day and so much more.

New episodes every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts.

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On this edition of The Literary Life, John Grisham is live at Books and Books in Coral Gables for a great night with a room full of readers, basking in the brilliance of a master storyteller. John's new book is The Exchange, and he brings back Mitch McDeer, the hero of The Firm -- and he talks with Mitchell Kaplan about this new book and much, much more.

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Books & Books recently had the pleasure of hosting three-time National Book Award finalist and best-selling author Lauren Groff, presenting her new novel, The Vaster Wilds. The New York Times calls it “a lonely novel of hunger and survival.” The brilliant Groff reads from her adventure novel and answers questions from her audience of fans. This new episode of The Literary Life was recorded at Books & Books in Coral Gables. 

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Nathan Hill is the guest on this edition of The Literary Life. His new novel Wellness is one of the most anticipated books of the year: following his critically acclaimed The Nix, Wellness tells the story of a marriage at its inception and then into its future. Two days after Oprah selected Wellness for her book club, Nathan visited Books and Books and his humor, poignancy, and flat-out brilliance were on display -- on page and stage.

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Books and Books in Coral Gables, our flagship store, is right across the street from the Coral Gables Cinema. Our indie bookstore so close to this indie cinema is my idea of heaven.

Over the years, we've had many collaborations and just a few weeks ago, during the cinema's first run showing of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, Kai Bird, the co-author of American Prometheus (which Christopher Nolan adapted for his screenplay) joined me for a Q&A following a screening of the film. That Q&A makes up this edition of The Literary Life.

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Imagine this: my guest has published over 105 novels and has sold over 450 million copies of his books. That's right, 450 million copies. That's the output of Dean Koontz and my revealing conversation with him covers lots of territory: his book collection, his love of reading, his new works, his thoughts on artificial intelligence, his writing process, how he researches, his openness about overcoming his difficult childhood, the impact of his early teachers, and the incredible bond with Gerda, his lifelong love and partner. Dean spoke to me from Southern California while I was at Books and Books in Coral Gables, Florida. 

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Campbell McGrath is among South Florida's most revered poets recognized with the MacArthur Genius Award, a Kingsley Tufts poetry Award and by admirers from Robert Pinsky to Elizabeth Alexander. His newest collection is Fever of Unknown Origin and on this edition of The Literary Life, we celebrate its publication with a reading at the Coral Gables location of Books & Books.

Introducing Campbell is Scott Cunningham, executive and artistic director of OMiami, which is building community around the power of poetry.

Campbell McGrath is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems, and XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century, a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. His writing has been recognized with a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award,” a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and a United States Artists Fellowship. He lives with his wife in Miami Beach, and teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University.  

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On this edition of The Literary Life, what makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? Robert Waldinger and Mark Schulz, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, have just published The Good Life: Life Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study on Happiness. Their invaluable insights emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard study that forms the basis of this new important book.

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At a time when the state of Florida has become ground zero for those who want to silence the voices of so many, we at Books & Books found it critical to bring Chasten Buttigieg to the Miami area to celebrate the publication of the young-adult edition of his memoir, I Have Something to Tell You. Chasten was joined in conversation with the Deputy Executive Director of the national LGBTQ Task Force, Mayra Hidalgo Salazar. Pastor Laurie Hafner welcomed our guest on this week's edition of the Literary Life.

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